The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership: Power Distance Spurs Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior of Employees
基于441名中国员工的三轮调查数据，发现变革型领导会通过心理授权增加员工的不道德亲组织行为，且权力距离越高，这种效应越强。
While transformational leadership has been shown to bring many benefits to organizations, a growing number of researchers are voicing concerns about its dark side. In this study, we used the social exchange theory to investigate the potential mechanisms of transformational leadership in employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior. Based on data from a three-wave survey of 441 Chinese employees, we found that: (1) transformational leadership had a positive relationship with unethical pro-organizational behavior of employees, (2) psychological empowerment played a mediating role in the relationship between transformational leadership and unethical pro-organizational behavior of employees, and (3) power distance negatively moderated the effect of transformational leadership on psychological empowerment, which means that when the power distance was higher, the positive relationship of transformational leadership and psychological empowerment would be weakened, which will increase the subsequent unethical pro-organizational behavior of employees. This study developed a moderated mediation model of the impact of transformational leadership on employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior. This article also made recommendations related to the need to value equal relationship and avoid the climate of high-power distance.